


Alone Together

by reasonablywittyatbest



Series: The Lost Statements [5]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Fan Statement, Gen, The Dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-01-31 17:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21449644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reasonablywittyatbest/pseuds/reasonablywittyatbest
Summary: Statement of Ellen Todd regarding something in the dark, original statement given 17th July, 2013. Audio recording by Jonathon Sims, head archivist of the Magnus InstituteStatement begins.
Series: The Lost Statements [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1384201
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Alone Together

Statement of Ellen Todd regarding something in the dark, original statement given 17th July, 2013. Audio recording by Jonathon Sims, head archivist of the Magnus Institute 

Statement begins.

I guess I should start with why I am here, in an institution which I would have normally believed to be a monument to foolishness. I am not… was not… a believer. Yet, I cannot deny, there is something awful in my flat and I am very afraid. 

I moved into a new flat last month. I was so excited, it’s my first. I mean, I’ve lived in a few places with friends and stuff but this was my first all to myself. I loved it immediately. It’s a basement flat, one bed one bath, a bit small but they let me have John so I couldn’t complain. John is my cat’s name. I love cats with bland human names. The previous tenant painted the walls bright colors and the land lord offered to paint over them but I thought they were wonderful. I loved it, I love it. I… think there is something very wrong with it. And I don’t mean I have cockroaches, which I’m sure John would love. I also don’t have ghosts, or demons, or anything like that. I am not some kind of crazy person who believes in things like that. But something is still wrong. 

So, I love it and I move in, first night, I have just my bed set up and my few boxes in stacks around the house still. I’m lying in my bed, and I want to make this very clear I have never been afraid of the dark. I never needed a night light. I never thought there were monsters in my closet or under my bed, I have never been afraid of the dark. The dark is fine. I was fine in the dark. 

But on this night, I just start to feel there was something in there with me. There was something in the room with me, in the dark, watching me. And I’m just laying there and becoming surer and surer that there was something in the room with me. And weirder still, John wasn’t sleeping with me. She always sleeps as close to my face as possible and yet she was not in there with me. 

I usually sleep on my side but I every time I turned over I felt that there was something behind me, looming, ready to take advantage of my back being turned. I eventually gave up and slept on my back. I don’t know how long it took me to fall asleep that first night but it was ages. When I woke up the next morning everything was fine. I decided it was just nerves from it being my first night alone in a new place. 

But, then, well, it kept happening. Every night I would turn the light off and lie down to sleep and again this creeping feeling would come over me that something or someone was watching me in the dark. 

And as much as I loved the flat there were other problems too. Specifically with the power, it just kept going out, I talked to the landlords and they just passed it off as faulty wiring. But, and this may just be me projecting now, but I swear they seemed… evasive; nervous, even, maybe. Like maybe they knew. 

My flat gets very dark when the power goes out, even in the middle of the day and when that would happen I swear I got the same feeling that I would get at night laying my bed. And, well, John started to refuse to sleep with me every night. She was jumpy and on edge, she would struggle, hissing and trying to scratch me, when I tried to pick her up. I think that caused me more distress than anything else, I’m not ashamed to say she is my best friend. Was. 

So, I grew more and more paranoid there was something in my room. Every night I would lay awake for hours as my eyes tried to catch the shapes in the dark. I was always tired, always on edge. For awhile I could convince myself it was just stress; moving to a new city, starting a new job, you know. It can really get to you. Just. Paranoia. But… Sometimes when I would lie still enough I swore I could hear breathing.

Then one night I learned there is so much to fear in the dark, and now I wonder how I could have been so naive to think there was nothing in the dark that could hurt me. I usually always silence my phone when I go to bed, but on this night I’d forgotten. I was just lying there straining to see whatever was in the dark watching me, straining to hear if I really could hear breathing. And then one of my friends sent me a late night text. The screen lit up and shed its dim light around the room and that’s when I finally saw them. 

The ceiling and walls were gone, instead there were dozens of figures, impossibly tall skinny caricatures of people all around my bed, moving and swaying and breathing and looming over me in the dark. They had no faces but they were watching, they had always been watching. They were staring at me, hungry, consuming, I was a feast on a platter for them. I had never been alone in the dark; I will never be alone in the dark again. They will consume me. 

I don’t know how I managed to get the light on but of course there was nothing in my room. There is nothing in my room but me. My phone was broken in the corner and the upstairs neighbors were knocking on my door to make sure I was ok, apparently I was screaming. After that I turned on every single light in the house and sat in my living room shaking for the rest of the night. 

I left the lights on after that, all of them, in every room. If it was never dark they could not hurt me. I bought new lamps. I made damn sure there was not a single dark corner in my apartment. But like I said there is something wrong with my apartment or the wiring or something or maybe my landlords are doing in on purpose and the lights would still go out and then I would be alone in the dark again with them all around me, swaying and watching and breathing. I couldn’t see them but I knew, I knew they were there now. 

And John, oh my poor sweet John, she was a wreck, her hair falling out and she lost so much weight. I… I gave her up. One of my coworkers was looking to adopt and I gave her up. So now I am truly left alone in the dark with them. When I am all I can do is sit and cry and pray and none of it has any effect, none of it helps, sometimes I think I can feel their breath on me. I’ve given up on the lights now; they will just take them away. It has only been a few weeks like this, but it feels like it has been years. 

Last night though, last night was the worst. Last night I could hear more than breathing and shuffling, last night I swore I could hear whispers, conversations that I was just barely missing. I put my hands over my ears to block them out but I could still hear them. I refused to listen though, refused to try and understand what they were saying and by the time morning came I felt like I might go mad simply from the whispers. 

Oh, god I want to move, I need to get out of the place, away from them but I think that I will never be alone in the dark again. They will follow me and someday they will kill me they will drag me into the dark and I will never see the light again and I cannot stand the thought.

I did some research, about the person who lived in the flat before me. Apparently she only lived in the flat for a few months before she moved out, I think she must have been alone with them too. I also learned, that only a few weeks after she moved out…. She killed herself. Maybe it would be best if I did the same thing, or maybe they will simply take my soul if I do. 

You said it may be awhile before you got around to looking into my statement when I asked, I hope the end of my story is not an unhappy one. I hope when you look into my story it has a happy ending. I hope… I hope. 

Statement Ends.

Well, certainly a terrifying story if true. Though, of course, it is much more likely that Ms. Todd was experiencing some kind of mental break brought on by the stress of the transition in her life. 

We were not able to find Ms. Todd to do any kind of follow up statement. Indeed with some digging Tim was able to find the missing person’s report that her family filed, shortly after she came to the institute. 

It is entirely possible she simply ran away from her life, especially if she was experiencing some kind of mental break. I feel like it would cause more harm than good to try and contact her family and make them relieve the loss.

Looking into the address she left us though, did reveal some possibly worrying information. Apparently the building she lived in has been condemned since the early 2000s, and there is no record of anyone living at that address for even longer than that. We were not able to find information about who owns the property. Which unfortunately means there is not much more follow up we can do.


End file.
